23 Comments

Is a book more user friendly than an e-book?+1 for a well research answer. I do question whether paper can be "zoomed" in any meaningful way as compared with an e-reader (unless you have a real life magnifying glass). I'm also not sure I understand what is meant by "multiple displays". As for legibility, I would say that paper still has a slight advantage due to higher resolution (1200 dpi vs 300 dpi max on an e-reader).

With infinite scrolling, do scrollbars still make sense?Yes, the scrollbar wasn't intended for dynamically expanding pages, and yes, the scrollbar track always represented the whole document. However, making the slider proportional to indicate page size was a later advancement, one that I would consider an evolution (and a very helpful one at that).

Aug29

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ZIP input or ZIP+4+1. I agree, and I think Zip+4 also might help resolve discrepancies if you make a typo in entering your address.

Aug29

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ZIP input or ZIP+4I appreciate your research, but I disagree with your conclusion. As a user, I feel better when sites allow me to enter my Zip+4 because it provides an extra level of error checking. If I made a typo entering the address, the Zip+4 acts as an extra check to make sure my important package arrives at the right place at the right time. Even if I'm completely wrong about this, and the Zip+4 is just ignored, I still feel better as a user, and I think that alone makes it worth having an optional +4 when entering a zip code.

Aug29

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With infinite scrolling, do scrollbars still make sense?When I mean by "hinder" is that the standard scrollbar is a successful, proven UI for scrolling through already downloaded content. My mockup maintains this strength, but adds the ability to say, "I don't just want to scroll through the stuff that's on the page right now, I want to stretch further back in time." So, it doesn't hinder the default "scroll what's on the page right now" behavior but enables other scenarios as well. This may be evolutionary, not revolutionary, but remember that the proportional scroll bar slider was an evolution on the fix-sized slider of the original Mac.

Aug29

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With infinite scrolling, do scrollbars still make sense?I agree with you that, if we came up with a great alternative, we could attempt to usability test it and see if it might be a better overall solution than the standard scrollbar. I think the only thing we're disagreeing on is impact. I think if we came up with the best imaginable scrollbar for dynamically expanding pages, it would not have the impact of, say, the pinch gesture (much less the automobile). That said, I do think I've come up with an enhancement that enables scrolling virtually infinite pages without hindering the user's ability to navigate the already downloaded content.

Aug29

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With infinite scrolling, do scrollbars still make sense?It would be really interesting to know what "non-geeks" think of dynamically expanding pages. Do they even realize the page is getting longer as they scroll down? Does the scroll bar work as they expect and help them with their primary task--navigating to content? I suspect people are managing quite well despite possibly not being aware of the concept of "downloaded content", and I think the standard scrollbar is not a misrepresentation of their mental model. I definitely get what you're trying to say, but in the absence of data, I'm skeptical that this issue is crippling UX.

Aug29

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With infinite scrolling, do scrollbars still make sense?I'm not sure why you feel that a scrollbar indicating the amount of content downloaded "represents no meaningful information". To me, that is meaningful. But it's your question :) The labels are supposed to represent tooltips, not permanently visible markers. Also, the labels all represent ages...I'll add the word "ago" to make that more clear. I intentionally made the spacing between labels geometric (nonlinear) to allow for adequate spacing for the most common/default scenario of now to 3 hours ago.

Jun29

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UI Design / Flow - what should “Save” and “Cancel” do?When it comes to massive data entry tasks, you're definitely right that you want to minimize clicks. I still wonder, though, if the table format is the best way to achieve this. I could see optimizing a form interface by including a button that lets you save the current record and immediately start a new one with a single button click. The advantage of a table is to the see the context of the surrounding rows while editing. If this isn't needed, I think it's still not worth it. Even if it is needed, there may be ways to include some context on the same page as the form.

How would you display a key equivalent to the user?@Bobby, I agree about Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V. They work very especially well if you mouse right-handed. That way, you can select some text or objects with one hand while preparing to execute Ctrl-C with your other hand.

Nov23

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How would you display a key equivalent to the user?@Marjan, as I said, keyboard shortcuts are not a critical feature for most users. Some users do prefer keyboard shortcuts. I think keyboard shortcuts should be provided because some users prefer them, and some users need them (for example, because they don't have the ability or motor skills to operate a mouse).